Purple bridesmaids dresses

purple_butterfly28

Hi Everyone, hoping someone may have some suggestions or helpful tips.
I'm a B2B and my colour scheme is purple with touches of red.
I thought this would be fairly easy expecially when I heard that radiant orchid was the panetone colour for this year and also with the influx of peopel choosing cadbury purple for their wedding colour.
I wasn't keen ont he idea of using a bridal shop for the bridesmaids dresses as 2 of my bridesmaids are very specific with their style choices and unlikely to wear the dress again.

I found a dress I really liked and had 2 of the bridesmaids try it one (1 is like me a lot curvier than the other 2 and it looked lovely on her and my super fussy sister really liked it suprisingly).
http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_018020390553_-1

We got really excited with the idea of red underskirts and also red heels, a little bit 50s style.
Then the last bridesmaid tried it on on she really doesn't like it and thinks it looks frumpy, not bridesmaid like and for an older person.
She also thinks red heels would look wrong and didn't even comment on the red underskirts.

We did another shopping trip this weekend, but there seems to be a real shortage of short purple dresses at the moment which is frustrating me, and now i'm getting a bit stressed and despondant.
We did try some other dresses and super frustratingly they are practically the same style as the previous dress.

Has anyone seen some short purple dresses under £100 each that come in sizes 8 - 18 in the UK.
I can't go for long as 2 of the girls are fairly short 5'3 / 5'2 so they look swamped.

We did find another dress in Monsoon that we all liked the style of but it's only in cobalt blue (and my LFC fan fiance would kill me lol) http://us.monsoon.co.uk/view/product/us_catalog/mon_1,mon_1.2/5531933210
Please help before I turn into a bridezilla :eek:

Thanks in advance

AutumnLeaf

At the risk of sounding blunt, it's your wedding and it really should be your choice. Absolutely take other people's views on board but if three of you love this style and it ticks all of your boxes, then it might be time to over rule your 3rd BM.

If BM3's not fussed on the petticoats and shoes, maybe she could go for the same style of shoe in a different, more subtle colour?

I don't think it looks frumpy at all.

Please don't be stressed or despondent. Be bold!

ALx

Bean83

I have to agree with AutumnLeaf, fair enough if your bridesmaid was objecting because the dress would make her uncomfortable (e.g. it was too revealing or something), but if she just doesn't like it then you may have to put your foot down. It will be nearly impossible to please all your bridesmaids.


That being said, have you looked at BHS? Here are their selection of purple dresses at the moment:
http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding-1020484/adult-bridesmaids-1020513#pageSize=40&catalogId=34096&viewAllFlag=false&sort_field=Relevance&langId=-1&beginIndex=1&storeId=13077&parent_categoryId=471109&categoryId=471150&refinements=Colour{1}~[purple]
The 'twist and wrap' dresses might be ideal for you - your bridesmaids could each wear them in a different way that suited them (and they are on sale at the moment!).

minerva_windsong

Depending what colour of purple you want, it might be worth hanging on another month or so if you can - by that time shops will be getting their autumn stock in and are more likely to have those kinds of jewel colours on offer. The issue with purple at this time of year is that if you can get it, it's more likely to be lilac rather than a 'proper' purple.


Personally I think it's a very nice dress and not frumpy at all. Whilst it's fair enough you want your bridesmaids to like it, in this instance I think you might have to put your foot down and say 'tough'.
Otherwise, could you perhaps say to them 'This is the colour scheme, this is the budget, find something you like'? That way they would all get a dress they liked - again having had a quick look on the BHS website that seems to be good for offering lots of different dress styles in the same colour.

Justengaged

Debenhams do some nice ones, try in there if you haven't already. Got mine from there, it was long but saw plenty of short ones.

flea72

The debenhams dress is nice, but my biggest concern would be that a guest may wear the same dress. Id be mortified as a guest, if i turned up to a wedding wearing the same thing, and at that price, from the standard debenhams range, its highly likely i would

purple_butterfly28

Thanks for your replies ladies.
I think you're right Autumn Leaf, Bean 83, and Minerva Windsong I'm going to have to be bold, I'm just not used to it as always want to please others, but my Fiance also has pointed out that it's our wedding and she'd only have to wear the dress for one day.

Though I may hang on a little as Minerva Windsong has suggested. I forgot that new colours are likely to come in after summer.
Does anyone have an idea of when they generally change over. My wedding isn't until next year I think I've just gone full steam ahead with planning everything and got a little excited when I saw what I thought were perfect dresses.

Justengaged, we tried on some of the short ones in Debenhams occasions section but because of the clingy jersey type fabric it really did not suit one of the bridesmaids clinging in all the wrong places.

Flea72. I did consider that but factored in that I haven't sent invites out yet so hopefully most lady guests won't have bought their dress yet, and thought it was some wedding etiquette thing that if you knew the colour scheme (or pick it up form the invites) that you don't wear a dress that colour, as it's a risk you could look like a member of the wedding party. Bit like wearing white is a no go.
But I could be wrong on that

Thank you everyone for the responses I was in a bit of a stress about it yesterday :cool:, but I just have to put perspective on it that technically bridesmaids are just an accessory as the only important things in a wedding are the bride groom and person conducting the ceremony.
That in the end nothing at the wedding is likely to have any effect on the marriage which is the main outcome

Relocationrelocation

Spotted this in the coast sale for £95 - says it's available up to a size 18 as well - http://www.coast-stores.com/michegan-short-dress/sale-short-dresses/coast/fcp-product/2224850770

AmyTurtle

I wouldn't buy them yet anyway -bridesmaids may not be the same size now as they are in a year's time!

minerva_windsong

The September issues of magazines - with the autumn/winter fashions in them - tend to come out in early August, and shops will usually have stock ready for when they come out to capitalise on people wanting the new stuff. So I would start looking around mid- to late August/beginning of September.